Modem for SMS

[Tyrone19]

Hi Community

Does any know how to set up a moxa oncell g3150a-lte modem for sms in geoscada or has a modem list of compatible modems that we used successfully. 

Thank you

[AndrewScott · Accepted solution]

Looking at page 3-10 of the manual for the modem, see

https://cdn-cms.azureedge.net/getmedia/fd55a2af-d899-4aa2-b9ce-bbd57125c233/moxa-oncell-g3150a-lte-s... 

This shows that it supports a very limited number of AT commands when in Serial Modem Mode, so I doubt it is compatible.

The commands required by the pager driver are shown on the following page:

https://community.se.com/t5/Geo-SCADA-Knowledge-Base/SMS-Alarm-Redirection/ba-p/278225 

[BevanWeiss · Accepted solution]

I'd recommend doing an ATI to see which model of modem it actually contains.

That will then let you look up the manufacturer and model of the modem to find out what AT commands it really supports.

 Most are either a Telit, a Quectel or a Huawei, and likely support the options that you need with a little bit of tweaking.

You might get unlucky and have some more niche modem inside it, and unfortunately you can't guarantee that other Moxa routers you buy will contain the same modem (even if you buy the exact same model).

[Tyrone19]

Hi Adrew, thanks for this. Do you by any chance know a modem that has previously worked for this application? I have seen there is a short list on the link you sent me, would it be possible to confirm if the Schneider Electric SR2MOD02 modem is compatible?

[Tyrone19]

Hi Bevan

I did a ATI and the results were: 

Manufacterer: Sierra Wireless, incorporated

Model: MC7304

I am looking for a list of AT commands however cannot find anything useful online.

[AndrewScott]

The product page for the Sierra Wireless MC7304 is here:

https://source.sierrawireless.com/devices/mc-series/mc7304 

There is an AT command guide buts it requires a user account to download.

[AndrewScott]

I've no experience with that Schneider Electric modem. The document only lists a few AT commands although it does say its a Sierra Wireless modem, although not which model.

[wsoetekouw]

We use an Insys SCR_L300 1.1(other type is needed for US) which is programmed by the company Prodek(www.prodek.nl) in the Netherlands to get the functionallity to send SMS with AT commands over a network connection from Geo SCADA.(this programmed yet to receive an SMS).

This modem can be connected by  network cable and has also digital inputs to send an SMS on and can also set digital outputs on errors of the modem itself.

[Tyrone19]

Thanks Andrew- I've tested commands and establish that the Moxa modem I'm using doesn't support those commands therefore would not work.

So am I right by saying in future when looking for a modem to support this application- I should make sure that it support all these commands below in attachment. If it allows these commands it should work?

[AndrewScott]

The following AT commands are used by the pager driver for sending and receiving SMS messages and so must be supported by the modem.

// New message indications - configurable between two modes. Not used if incoming SMS is disabled.

AT+CNMI=3,2

AT+CNMI=1,2,0,0,0

// GSM 03.38 character set

AT+CSCS="GSM"

// Text mode

AT+CMGF=1

// Query best error reporting level

AT+CMEE=?

// Error reporting level (depends on response to previous command)

AT+CMEE=0

AT+CMEE=1

AT+CMEE=2

// Data Coding Schema (DCS) - configurable as default or UCS-2

AT+CSMP=17,167,0,0       // Default encoding

AT+CSMP=17,167,0,8       // UCS-2 encoding

// Show text mode parameters

AT+CSDH=1

// Send message

AT+CMGS="<Phone Number>"

[BevanWeiss]

In the past I've use the Intercel modems, and recently have been using Robustel modems.

The Robustel in particular are very price competitive, and support AT over IP, plus works for both sending and receiving SMS.

They also support dual SIM also, which can be useful if you need a bit of additional reliability.

I'd suggest just hooking your modem up to GeoSCADA.  I think that it will work to send SMSs.  I've found an AT command set for a similar Sierra Wireless unit (mp7xx) and it would support the AT commands required.  If you've already got the modem, there's not much to lose in trying it.

[Tyrone19]

Hi Bevan

Thanks for this. I've tried the modem I had- it had no coms with GeoSCADA at all. The log is completely empty.

I've also run the AT commands through PC Com terminal and the command AT+CMEE=? does not work.

I am however trying a Schneider SR2MOD03 modem tomorrow.

[Tyrone19]

Thanks for this

[BevanWeiss]

If there was really no comms at all, this suggests that you didn't quite have the configuration correct.

You should be able to see AT commands being sent to the SMS Pager Channel.. and responses back from them.

If those responses include ERROR then that's generally bad, and that's where things with that modem wouldn't work.

It adds a few extra tricks when you want to receive SMS messages into GeoSCADA also.. since then you need to have some other messages reported from the SMS Pager Channel... but you haven't mentioned this as a requirement yet.

[Tyrone19]

Hi Bevan

It seems like the moxa modem was the issue, I set up with the SR2MOD03 and it worked- only problem there was a slight lag in the smsing about 2min which should be fine.

Thanks for all the assistance

[Tyrone19]

Hi Community

I am still having a few issues with the SMSing it seems to time out after a while. I then have to reboot my modem then it starts to work. It seems to get stuck on the AT+CSCS="GSM" command. Please find my log attached.

Any assistance would be highly appreciated.

Thank you

[BevanWeiss]

You don't really want to have the Process Incoming SMS Messages enabled if your modem won't support it right...

What is your initialisation string set to for the SMS Paging channel?  I can't see any init string in there, and I would have thought if the modem did stop responding at times, the channel would have failed, and would have re-inited.

It should be something like 'ATV1E0'

For some of my modems it's a bit more complicated, because it's having to redirect the internal urcport to the atusb interface to get the incoming SMS processing working.. but that's a very specific modem peculiarity.

[Tyrone19]

We have the initialization string set on "AT" at the moment. Would it be better to change it to "ATV1E0"? 

I had a chat to my client earlier and he told me that this time the SMS stopped working- He restarted the modem and it still did not respond, it only started working again when he restarted the GeoSCADA server. 

[BevanWeiss]

Yes, I'd recommend ATV1E0.

How is the modem connected to the server?

Is it sitting directly on a serial port? or does it go via a Moxa nPort, or a USB adapter or similar?

It sounds like the modem itself might be less than ideally reliable if it's really needing power cycles this frequently.

The Geo SCADA Expert needing a restart I'm a little hesitant to believe here unfortunately... at least on it being Geo SCADA Expert's fault.  I've definitely had situations when using like TruePort etc (or other Ethernet / USB to serial custom software) that it would lock up and refuse to allow Geo SCADA Expert to connect, because it still thought Geo SCADA Expert had the connection open, and only allowed a single connection to the serial device.  But uninstalling TruePort and using the direct TCP connection from GeoSCADA Expert solved those problems.

[Tyrone19]

Hi Bevan

Thank for all your help so far, I'm solving this issue slowly.

The modem is goes via a Moxa Nport- serial to ethernet converter. My client has their Geoscada on a Virtual Machine(Hyper V)

[BevanWeiss]

The Moxa NPort can definitely work.  I've used these for exactly this situation before.

Are you using it in Raw TCP mode, or in Real Port / True Port proprietary mode (where it appears as a serial port in the Windows OS)?

I have had issues with the second way, where it would lock up the virtual serial port, and needed a restart of the driver / operating system to free it.  It's why I'd recommend using the raw TCP mode, and then configuring Geo SCADA Expert to use TCP in the SMS Paging Channel configuration.

What you should see in the channel logs is a periodic ATV1E0 'heartbeat'.  This will match the configured poll time on the SMS Paging Channel (I think that's where this setting is located).. you generally want this to be a pretty short time if you have a robust fast network between the server and the SMS Paging Modem (i.e. I like to have it <= 60s).

If you monitor this, and see the SMS paging modem not responding to any of these polls, then you have a problem with your modem / connection and need to investigate and fix this.

If there's periods where Geo SCADA Expert isn't sending the poll, and it should (i.e. the channel isn't failed, and the SMS service isn't sending an SMS) then you should capture logs and send them off to Schneider for further investigation.  That would be a Geo SCADA Expert problem...

I've really had very few issues with the Robustel Modems... (or the Intercel modems).  They remove a failure point in the chain also, since you can go direct IP to the modem.. so you don't need to have the Moxa NPort or similar.

[Tyrone19]

Thanks Bevan, we have changed to Raw TCP now, it seems to be working for now just going to monitor for the next few day.

Thank you for all your assistance so far!

[Tyrone19]

Hi Guys

Unfortunately the SMSing stopped again after 11 days. Not sure what could be causing I have changed to Raw TCP mode now. 

Ive attached the logs received and also raised a level 3 request.

We have reset both the modem and the converter, however the connection still failed.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

[BevanWeiss]

This doesn't look like a GeoSCADA issue.  It looks like a problem with either your network, or your modem.

GeoSCADA is doing what I'd expect from it there.

Tx 16 bytes at 26-AUG-2021 10:43:34.642 to 10.9.17.53:4001
0000 41 54 56 31 45 30 2B 43 4E 4D 49 3D 33 2C 32 0D ATV1E0+CNMI=3,2.

Rx ACCEPTED 39 bytes at 26-AUG-2021 10:43:34.751 from 10.9.17.53:4001
0000 0D 0A 2B 43 4D 53 20 45 52 52 4F 52 3A 20 6F 70 ..+CMS ERROR: op
0010 65 72 61 74 69 6F 6E 20 6E 6F 74 20 73 75 70 70 eration not supp
0020 6F 72 74 65 64 0D 0A .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. orted..

Tx 18 bytes at 26-AUG-2021 10:43:44.751 to 10.9.17.53:4001
0000 41 54 56 31 45 30 2B 43 53 43 53 3D 22 47 53 4D ATV1E0+CSCS="GSM
0010 22 0D .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ".

Tx 18 bytes at 26-AUG-2021 10:43:57.773 to 10.9.17.53:4001
0000 41 54 56 31 45 30 2B 43 53 43 53 3D 22 47 53 4D ATV1E0+CSCS="GSM
0010 22 0D .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ".

---

You NEED to turn off the Incoming SMS Processing if your modem doesn't support it.

It appears that after Geo SCADA sends the +CNMI=3,2 request the modem dies.. 

Since the modem didn't say 'OK', then Geo SCADA retried to re-send... hence the duplicate message(s).

Tx 105 bytes at 02-SEP-2021 13:12:03.197 to 10.9.17.53:4001
0000 41 6C 61 72 6D 20 57 61 73 74 65 20 57 61 74 65 Alarm Waste Wate
0010 72 2E 52 65 67 69 6F 6E 73 2E 43 65 6E 74 72 61 r.Regions.Centra
0020 6C 20 52 65 67 69 6F 6E 2E 42 4C 41 43 4B 50 4F l Region.BLACKPO
0030 4F 4C 20 52 4F 41 44 20 57 57 50 53 2E 42 4C 41 OL ROAD WWPS.BLA
0040 43 4B 50 4F 4F 4C 20 52 4F 41 44 20 57 57 50 53 CKPOOL ROAD WWPS
0050 2E 44 4E 50 11 53 75 6D 70 31 2E 53 75 6D 70 20 .DNP.Sump1.Sump
0060 4F 76 65 72 66 6C 6F 77 1A .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Overflow.

Tx 1 bytes at 02-SEP-2021 13:12:09.471 to 10.9.17.53:4001
0000 1B .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .

Tx 1 bytes at 02-SEP-2021 13:12:10.702 to 10.9.17.53:4001
0000 1B .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .

Tx 23 bytes at 02-SEP-2021 13:12:11.932 to 10.9.17.53:4001
0000 41 54 2B 43 4D 47 53 3D 22 2B 32 37 37 33 32 39 AT+CMGS="+277329
0010 35 35 38 37 30 22 0D .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 55870".

Tx 23 bytes at 02-SEP-2021 13:12:13.172 to 10.9.17.53:4001
0000 41 54 2B 43 4D 47 53 3D 22 2B 32 37 37 33 32 39 AT+CMGS="+277329
0010 35 35 38 37 30 22 0D .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 55870".

---

Geo SCADA did the right thing again here...  the modem was responding correctly up until the end of message token (1B) to which the SMS paging modem should have responded with +CMSG: xxx (to let the terminal know that the message has been successfully queued for sending with the message ID xxx).  Since the modem didn't respond AT ALL to this... then Geo SCADA tried to send the message again (with the AT+CMGS...).  The modem didn't respond.

So... I'd say that something changed with your modem configuration between:

02-SEP-2021 09:49:21.030

and

02-SEP-2021 10:14:28.576

Like someone enabled some other SMS mode in the router/modem (as mentioned by someone else in this thread, some router/modems let you configure SMS sending on a Digital Input.  This almost never works in conjunction with AT SMS usage).

Often the little controller that interfaces to the actual cellular modem has some very basic state machine around AT command parsing.  So if you enabled SMS send on digital input, or enabled SMS processing in the router itself, then it's little state machine starts to look for SMS related messages on the AT port (i.e. +CMGS), and will swallow them itself rather than send them out the AT 'serial port'.

Comms to the router/modem is working fine.  But the router/modem is behaving strangely around SMS.

NOTE: it's confusing with terminology.  There is a small cellular module within the device you've bought.  That is the actual 'modem'.  Wrapped around that is some custom electronics (typically with its own microcontroller) that does the non-cellular modem stuff... like the pretty web interface, and often the actual routing functionality... but it also does the SMS sending for digital state change, or the processing to allow for reset / etc by sending the router an SMS.

[Tyrone19]

Hi Bevan

Thanks, The incoming SMS function is turned off- Im not sure why that AT Command is still running. Ive also spoken to my client and nobody has touched any of the settings.

Thanks

[BevanWeiss]

It might have just been old crud left in the log.  It can often be useful to cut/paste away the log file when you make a significant change.  That way you're not confusing yourself (or others) with log results which don't relate to the current configuration you're using.

Nothing against clients... but I never trust them when they say that they haven't changed anything.

If you can, I'd recommend getting the config of the SMS modem, and comparing it to what you had it setup as before.  And ditto with the NPort.

It's where backup files and DIFF type tools are super handy.

As I mentioned, it doesn't look like a Geo SCADA issue however.  It's a modem / NPort problem at this stage.

The Robustel modems are pretty cheap, if you have any issues getting such working, I could send you configs for both the modem and the Geo SCADA Expert side.

[pkyc]

I realize this is an older post, but you mentioned the Robustel modems are pretty cheap and that you had the configs for both the  modem and the Geo SCADA Expert side. Would you mind sharing those with me? Also, have you used any modem with 5G capability? I have to have the AT to ethernet because GEO Scada is running on a virtual server.

[BevanWeiss]

Here's the SMS paging modem config... with sensitive data removed... so it's probably invalid to download to a modem 'as is', but you could DIFF it against a config you already have.

The GeoSCADA SDE is a little trickier, since it's been a while since I had that DB open, and hence I only have SDE exports of deployed items.  Which I can't distribute, both because they contain customer sensitive data, and also because they contain additional IP that we would not wish to disclose.

The key part for the Robustel SMS Paging modem was that the init string had to be quite special:

ATV1E0+QURCCFG="urcport","usbmodem"

This will only apply for Qualcomm modems in the Robustel gateways.  For other modem vendors, and other hardware arrangements it may be different.

In regards to 5G, I haven't used one.  But it shouldn't be any different.  From 2G to 3G to 4G nothing changed for SMS paging.  5G will be the same I expect.  The physical modem will be different, some of the modem specific configuration may change (i.e. APN, channel settings etc) but the SMS paging process would be the same.